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Location: Blogs Chef Nick Martin
Posted by: chefnick	Monday, October 15, 2007
just one of those recipes that has played it's way to the top of the premiership. Serves 8. Oven @180c / gas 7. For the filling, 9 whole egg yolks 3.5 oz / 90g caster sugar 18floz / just under 1 pint whipping cream, 2 fresh vanilla pods split and scraped, Nutmeg to glaze, For the pastry, 9oz / 250g sifted plain white flour 4.5oz / 115g softened unsalted butter, 3oz / 75g caster sugar, 1 whole egg and 1 x egg yolk, Start by whisking together the sugar and eggs, Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs, then add the egg mix a little at a time mixing gently with your fingertips, When you have a smooth pastry, wrap it in cling film and place it into the fridge for 20 minutes to rest, Meanwhile pour the cream into a pan with the vanilla, Bring almost to a simmer, stir well and take off the heat, let this infuse for 20 minutes before whisking onto the egg yolks and sugar, Pass this through a fine sieve to remove any shell and the vanilla pods, Roll out the pastry to about 5 mm thick and carefully line it into a 9” pre-buttered flan ring Place this back into the fridge for 10 minutes to rest again, Place a large sheet of baking paper into the pastry shell overlapping up the edges and pour in dried beans or rice to come up to the surface of the ring, Put the pastry case onto a baking sheet and pop it into the oven for 10 minutes, Carefully remove the paper and beans from inside the ring and place the case back into the oven for a further 5 minutes, Now turn the oven down to 140c / gas 1/2 Pour the filling into the pastry case right up to the top rim of the pastry, Grate a generous amount of nutmeg over the surface and place the flan into the oven for 35 / 40 minutes, or until just set but not runny, Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely (not in the fridge) Eat the whole lot and start again

Comments (2)

Re: Custard Tart.

By chefnick on Monday, October 15, 2007

this is the tart that with made with great passion,
over the course of 3 days I drove my wife crazy as 4 tarts where made and i was like a madman choosing the best one to take to the bbc with me,

well as you can guess i took the best one,

we paired it up with Lizzie's handmade amaretto apricots and Ian Timmes was totally bowled over live on air,

I even got to do the eggshell challenge,

where when we where live on air I had to peel a hard boiled egg in record time,

I did it in 9.2 seconds
yet a man previous to me did it in 8. something,

I'll get over it,

pitch him against me french trimming racks of lamb,
boning sole, plaice, whole salmon, chopping a full net of leeks, peeling and chopping 20k of onions, and i'll wipe the floor with him,

I could show him chefs who can do knife skills and perform culinary tasks that would make him " cry for his mom"

throw down the culinary gauntlet baby,

I've know at least 50 chefs who will stand and fight alongside me,

Now peeling an egg might seem a simple task to the lamemen,
but just don't go messin with us kitchen boy's,

we do it with passion, feeling and above all else, belief,

come an have a go if you think your hard enough,

Nick...

Re: Custard Tart.

By chefnick on Tuesday, October 16, 2007

I've really gone and started something now,
my brother who is also a chef phoned me to say he peeled and chopped an onion in 55 seconds, trimmed and cut a whole beef fillet into 8 steaks in 6 minutes,

his friend very finely chopped a 500g bunch of flat parsley in under 2 minutes,

then he went into raptures of laughter telling me about his culinary olympics,

frittatas used as a discus,
jacket potatoes used a a shot put,
hop skip and rump,
clay pigeon shooting,
swordfish fencing,
braun tennis,
figure skateing

oh man the list goes on,

i did'nt have the heart to tell him i was just having a laugh at myself,

by the way try adding the chopped zest of 1 lemon to the custard tart recipe,

or soak 10 pitted prunes in 4 tablespoons of warm armagnac for 8 hours and then chop them roughly before adding to the empty pastry case before pouring over the custard prior to baking,

now that is a real show stopper served with creme fraiche.